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Friday American Legion — District 2 Tournament, 4 p.m., at RBHS MLB— Athletics at Rangers, 5 p.m., CSNC MLB—Mets at Giants, 7 p.m., CSNB Tour de France — Stage 7, 5 a.m., VERSUS PGA— John Deere Classic, Noon, TGC Nationwide Series — Feed the Children 300, 4:30 p.m., ESPN Sports 1B Friday July 8, 2011 Catch of a lifetime Little League Updates LITTLE LEAGUE Corning defeated Yreka 7-4, Wednesday night in an elimination game. That left Corning playing Foothill, Thursday night, while Red Bluff was battling East Redding in the winner’s bracket semifinal. The winner of Corning’s game and the loser of Red Bluff’s game are scheduled to meet tonight at 6 p.m. Courtesy photo The Raglin family had a memorable fishing trip, June 30, up the Sacramento River just north of Red Bluff. Jeff Raglin, who was fishing for trout with his father Vern and grandfather Vern, Sr., caught a bite with his 6-pound test leader that proved to be bigger than expected. After a 20-minute struggle and being floated a half-mile down river, Jeff finally brought in what turned out to be a 10-pound striped bass. “It put on quite a battle, I can say that,” said Jeff, who thought maybe he had hooked a salmon. Hall of Fame baseball manager Williams dead at 82 (AP) — Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who won two World Series titles with Oakland and led two other franchises to pen- nants, has died. He was 82. Williams died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm at a hospital near his home in Henderson, Nev., the Hall of Fame said. ‘‘I admired the man,’’ said Athletics broadcaster Ray Fosse, who was Williams’ starting catcher in Oakland. ‘‘I played for a lot of managers, and I can’t say there was one I respected more than Dick Williams, as a person and a manager. He was a good man.’’ Williams won pennants with Boston and San Diego as well as the champi- onships in Oakland, joining Hall of Famer Bill McK- echnie as the only managers ever to take three franchises to the World Series. He also took the Montre- al Expos to their only play- off berth in the strike-short- ened 1981 season as he had much success turning around struggling franchis- es with his hard-nosed dis- ciplinarian style. ‘‘I owe Dick a lot,’’ said Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who played for Williams in San Diego. ‘‘The city and the Padres owe him a lot. I think a lot of fans bought right into it like the players did, like in ‘82, when he first took over, then ‘84 when we went to the World Series. I think the fans real- ized that his style of play, the way he wanted us to play, could be successful if we bought in, and we did.’’ But he had his biggest success during three tumul- tuous seasons in Oakland in the 1970s. Williams led the Athletics to 101 wins and a division title his first year in 1971 before being swept by Baltimore in the AL cham- pionship series. He then won World Series titles the next two years with Charley Finley’s brash team led by Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter as the A’s became the first team to repeat since the 1961-62 Yankees. But fed up with Finley’s meddling style of owner- ship, Williams resigned after the 1973 title instead of sticking around for what turned out to be a third straight championship sea- son. ‘‘He was a brilliant and feisty leader, and universal- ly recognized as one of the greatest managers in Major League history,’’ A’s owner Lew Wolff said. ‘‘Beyond his status as a Hall of Famer, Dick’s name will forever be associated with the Oakland Athletics, as he led the team to back-to-back World — Alberto Contador knew it made little sense to take risks on a day when blind- ing, torrential rain lashed riders in the Tour de France. The 141-mile course Thursday — the sixth and longest stage in the three- week race — made for a dangerous trip. And the field was fortunate to avoid a major crash, a day after riders went tumbling every- where. ‘‘It was another nervous stage and because of the rain I virtually couldn’t see anything,’’ said Contador, the defending champion and three-time Tour winner who crashed Wednesday. ‘‘At the end of the stage I was moving to the very front of the pack, simply to avoid accidents, and not because I wanted to attack.’’ Contador and his Tour Series titles in 1972 and 1973, and played a key role in bringing the Bay Area its first ever team World Championship.’’ Before coming to Oak- land, Williams was part of Boston’s memorable ‘‘Impossible Dream’’ team in 1967 that won the pen- nant for the first time since 1946 before losing the World Series in seven games to St. Louis. The Red Sox had fin- ished ninth in the 10-team American League the previ- ous year, helping form Williams’ reputation as a master of the turnaround. Williams also took the Expos to the NL champi- onship series in 1981 and led the Padres to their first playoff berth and first NL pennant in 1984. San Diego lost to Detroit in five games in the Series that year. ‘‘He knew how to win,’’ said Rangers pitching coach Andy Hawkins, who pitched for Williams on the Padres. ‘‘He got the most out of his people, he demanded the most out of his people and he got it. He handled his pitching staff real well, I ended up throw- ing real well for him. I liked him as a manager, I sure did. He was a tough man to break in for, but as a veter- an, he was great to play for.’’ Williams had an overall record of 1,571-1,451 in 21 seasons, also spending time rivals, like two-time run- ners-up Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck, played it safe as Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway led a sprint to capture his first stage on the Tour. He fin- ished in 5 hours, 13 min- utes, 37 seconds. Matt Goss of Australia was second and overall race leader Thor Hushovd was third, giving Norway the distinction of having the stage winner and yellow jer- sey holder on the same day. Moving fairly close to the front meant relative safety for Contador, Schleck and Evans. They all were part of the first 50 of the 197 riders who complet- ed the stage. ‘‘Yesterday wind, today rain. ... Luckily, there seemed to be some kind of understanding within the peloton not to take too many risks today,’’ Schleck said. ‘‘As if all the teams had suf- fered enough crashes yes- terday.’’ Evans kept second over- all. The Australian is one second behind Hushovd while Schleck is 12 seconds behind in 10th spot. Conta- dor is 1:42 off the lead in 34th place. A rider would have encountered untold trouble if caught behind the peloton in a dominolike crash on the treacherous, narrow roads with the Angels and Seattle Mariners. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 after being elected by the Veterans Committee. ‘‘Well, he wasn’t like they are today. He could raise some hell,’’ said base- ball lifer Don Zimmer, who played with Williams in Brooklyn in the 1950s. ‘‘Great manager. He really knew what he was doing.’’ Williams was back in Cooperstown, N.Y., last month when he managed both teams at the Hall of Fame Classic at Doubleday Field in a legends contest featuring six Hall of Famers and 20 former major league stars. ‘‘Dick Williams’ lasting legacy will be his innate ability to lead, turning fran- chises into winners wherev- er he managed,’’ Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson said. ‘‘No one wore the mantle of ‘Hall of Famer’ more proudly than Dick. We will miss him in Coop- erstown.’’ Williams also played 13 years in the majors for the Dodgers, Orioles, Indians, A’s and Red Sox. He had a .260 career average with 70 homers and 331 RBIs as mostly a part-time player. He retired after the 1964 season and soon began his career as a manager. There will be no funeral services held. Favorites take no risks at rain-lashed Tour LISIEUX, France (AP) snaking toward Normandy. Wind made things even more hazardous, as fans watched, soaked to the skin in kinship with the riders. ‘‘In the last few kilome- ters I was thinking only about not falling because it was a dangerous course,’’ Contador said. ‘‘At the end of the stage I got to the front of the peloton not to lose time, to avoid problems.’’ Contador is no stranger to problems. The 28-year- old Spaniard tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol late in last year’s Tour and he could yet be stripped of all his titles back to last July if the Court of Arbitration for Sport rules against him next month. Courtesy photo Justin Nicholls pitches as Koleby Potter mans third base for Red Bluff’s 11-year-old All-Stars. LITTLE LEAGUE Red Bluff beat West Redding 5-1, Wednesday night, in Mt. Shasta 5 -1 to earn a spot in the Dis- trict 1 Championship. They’ll face the winner of West Redding against East Redding. The championship is scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. In Wednesday’s semifinal Red Bluff once again jumped on the board early with two runs in the top half of the first. Drew Stacy started things off from the lead off position by beating out yet another bunt for an infield single. After the next two batters were put out on fine defensive plays, Ian Hoskins drew a walk. With Stacy on second and Hoskins at first, Koleby Potter stepped up and on a 2 -2 count hit a sharp line drive to right center for a double to score both runners. Red Bluff added two more runs in the second inning. Conner McKenzie started the inning by drawing the first of three consecutive walks. With McKenzie at third, Stacy at second and Andre Avila at first, Justin Nicholls stepped up and hit a fly to center field scoring McKenzie. Stacy then scored on an error for the second run of the game. The final Red Bluff score came in the fourth when Shane Rhodes started the inning with a single up the middle. He eventually scored on another throwing error by West Redding. Nicholls had another stellar performance on the mound. Posting a complete game win on 84 pitch- es over the six-inning game, striking out thirteen with no walks. Over the first three games, Red Bluff has outscored their opponents 19–4 and the pitching staff has struck out 30 while only walking five. LITTLE LEAGUE Corning faces East Redding tonight at 6 p.m. in a battle of the Northern and Southern bracket undefeated teams. The winner heads to the championship, while the loser will have to play the winner of the Northern and Southern bracket teams who have one loss each. LITTLE LEAGUE Redding beat Corning 8-5, Wednesday night. Corning was playing Cottonwood, Thursday, for the right to a rematch with Redding in tonight’s championship. Tehama Tracker SWIMMING Competitive youth swimming returns to Red Bluff this weekend with the Red Bluff Triton Invitational at Red Bluff Union High School, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is free. Baseball Division (11, 12) Little League Baseball Division 11-year-old 9-and 10-year-old Baseball Division Oakland Athletics Baseball Division Junior